Hope for a better world

As I've mentioned in my earlier post(s), I generally stay away from newspapers because of the shitload of negative energy they carry. But this morning the first thing I did was rush to the living room and grab today's paper. The whole front page was filled with the most pleasing stuff... Obama the new President to-be! :)

Words can't express how happy I felt to see a large picture of that most extraordinary man kissing his wife to celebrate his victory!! Made a perfect beginning to my day! :)

I am of the "politics sucks!" school of thought. So you can imagine my knowledge (or lack thereof) pertaining to this fine man. But there's something about him that has always appealed to me. It's probably the New Age-Spiritual-Reiki-Metaphysics Girl in me who speaks when I say "I have an awesome gut feeling about this man and his role in the future of the Earth". He really cares for the planet and for ALL of Mother Nature's creatures. The man cruises in a hybrid and one of the first things he's doing upon his victory is adopt (yes adopt not buy) a puppy for his children!! What else can I say?

He hasn't even stepped into office yet and already the news of his victory has come with further good tidings. Prop 2 got passed! People have been struggling to achieve this in forever and then wham it just happened! :)

This President is going to be about far more than better political moves or a more stable economy. He's going to be about Peace, Love and Hope for a beautiful world to come.

I know the world is expecting a LOT out of him but I truly feel he can meet all those expectations and more.

I deeply believe he is the Universe's answer to our prayers for a beautiful tomorrow :)

September 2008 Sale at artbysusmitha

September Sale: EFA Birthday bash (20% off--and not just in my shop!)

From Sept. 15th-30th I'll be participating in the EtsyForAnimals Team's birthday bash--along with over 120 other shops! (you can find all the participants on the efa website here)--which means you can use my coupon code, SUSMI, to get 20% off your order (excluding shipping) in ANY of these shops during that time. You can even use it in all 120+ shops if you're feeling sales crazy (though you can only use it in each shop once, so make sure you get everything you want in that trip).

All you have to do to use the coupon is put "efa birthday bash coupon code SUSMI" in the notes to seller for ANY participating shop and then either wait for a revised invoice or pay and get a refund. There will be different codes for every shop keeper so we can keep track of who brings the most people to the sale (winner gets a special prize from EFA - $50 will be donated to their favorite charity, mine is the Visakha SPCA Cow Sanctuary), so if I'm the first person you've heard about this from then use my code in any participating stores--but if you got someone else's code first, then use theirs. Oh--and you can feel free to pass my code on to anyone else you know who might enjoy this sale. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Bangalore Bomb Blast 25 July 2008

I would have been in my own sweet world in my quiet little apartment and never even have known if dad hadn't called to tell me about the bomb blasts which have taken place all over the city. One of the blasts happened so close to home it's scary!!

I don't have a TV here and even if I did, I most likely wouldn't have been watching the news channel. I avoid NEWS (in any form) like the plague, it's nothing but negative energy, striking fear into people and spreading waves of bad vibes...

When was the last time we read/watched/heard about some random positive thing in the headlines?

I know you're probably forming certain unpleasant opinions about me. Don't bother sharing, I've heard them all "doesn't pay to be ignorant", "get out of your little well", "HOW can you not stay informed?"...

Yes, I am glad I found out about what happened today so I could call the people I care about and ensure that they're safe. But I'm not interested in any further details about this blasted event (no pun intended)!!

If you haven't already figured it out, let me tell you that this blog post isn't ABOUT today's blasts. You're not going to find any information here that you haven't already read elsewhere online. Not like there's much information out there anyway. All I can see are 2 paragraphed posts stating that there have been 6 bomb blasts today and the locations of these.

Yeah, so they'll speculate on who could've done this and then share their 'opinions'. And even if they do end up actually finding out the people behind this, then what? If that kind of information helped, then security would've been such that this would'nt even have taken place in the first place! 6 places, all in one day... shame on us!! It could be anyone - terrorists, the opposition, even the government. And you know what, they can strike again any time and I bet you it'll still take us by surprise because by then, we would have forgotten all about today. Today it's all headlines, people injured, tragedy, danger... and then something else happens and June 25th 2008 is another buried story. So what's the point of watching the news and learning about people's misery when you're going to be ignorant anyways?!

Can't even begin to understand WHY anyone needs to do these things!! What does anyone plan to achieve by bombing places, killing people and disrupting lives??? The pointlessness of it all is simply sickening!!

Part of my family is out at work. They were told not to leave the office while things are monitored and all seems safe. I spoke to them, they are fine. But obviously, I won't be happy till they're home safe.

I now have only 2 choices... Either sit here biting my nails OR try to go about my day till they all get home safe.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.... deep breaths.... positive thoughts...

F$@#!! A transformer or something outside went DHUB just now. Made me jump!!

Come on Sus, concentrate... more positive thoughts... deep breaths...

I bet you people are glued to the TV right now, watching the same loop of injured people over and over again... getting scared... brewing fear and spewing unwanted energies into the environment... Know what these energies will do? They will make people feel things they shouldn't be feeling, make them hate and then finally it'll result in future idiots like the ones responsible today. Unable to bear all the bad energies, they'll want to go spread it out into the world.

It's a vicious circle!!

Maybe... just maybe we could break the damned circle!!!

How about we watch less news to begin with? Yeah yeah, keep yourself informed and all that. Bangalore blasts, 6 places, what places... and then stop. STOP gawking at that TV screen with clips of dying people!! What good is that going to do??

Instead, sit back, close your eyes and say a protective prayer for everyone. Then think positive thoughts... of the everyday miracles... you know, good stuff!

Picture that everyone's safe and happy and there's peace all over the city. And love and harmony too. Happy people. Content.. friendly.. and satisfied with everything they have. And while you're at it, how about focusing on a picture of a cleaner, healthier city? More cyclists and pedestrians - happy, safe ones. More electric vehicles. Beautiful green trees. The ability to take deep breaths right in the middle of the road and relishing every bit of the pure, clean, happy air.
Happy happy happy
Joy joy joy

Keep seeing it, keep saying it and one day this will be our truth.

Until then, if any of you start a GOOD NEWS TV, let me know ;)

Insight into life from a cartoon show :)

I was watching Futurama today and just discovered my favorite quote!!

God entity: ...being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch...If you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Fantastic huh? :)

Vegan whip topping discovered in India!!! :)

Last year when I visited Munnar, the chef at our resort, Chef Padmanabhan, was an awesome guy. He listened to everything we said about being Vegan and each night he took time off his busy schedule to take us around the buffet spread and tell us exactly which items we could eat. It was when he offered us this absolutely delicious pudding style dessert that we found out it was made with a dairy free whip topping. It was an amazing discovery!!! The chef also told us that since dairy free products have a much longer shelf than the ones with milk products in them, many well known pastry places actually use this in their desserts.

The name of the brand is Rich's and when we did a search online we found out that they supply their Non Dairy Whip Topping (the only Vegan item they carry) only in institutional quantities on wholesale only. This meant that we couldn't directly place a retail order from them. Just our sucky luck! :( So for the next few months, we just kept our eyes wide open at grocery stores just in case it was sold retail. But what do you know...nothing! So finally we got tired of looking and the burning desire for Non Dairy Whip Toppings faded from our consciousnesses.

Then last week we went to Metro and while I had gone to check the ingredients of MTR's Frozen Masala Dosa (and to my disappointment, the $%^&ing thing contained ghee), hubby dearest was hanging around the other frozen foods section. When I turned to look at him he was excitedly motioning me to come near. I was puzzled since he isn't a regular wifey-I-miss-you-when-you're-not-next-to-me kinda guy. But hope sparked and I went near him hoping for a kiss, a hug or in the least a hand-holding and he turned me to the freezer saying 'LOOK!' with a HUGE grin on his face. And there it was!! Rich's Non Dairy Whip Topping!!! Needless to say, this is what was running in my head 'haaaaa-lle-lu-jah, haaaa-lle-lu-jah... ha-le-lu-jah, ha-le-lu-jah, ha-leee-luuu-jah-ah-aah'. And it took me every ounce of effort not to cover his face with burning kisses right there in public!! :D

Well anyways, we brought the precious pack home and froze it. Then I un-froze it and whipped the whole thing little at a time, all in one day (painful process) and re-froze it.

It arrives sweetened so if you take a scoop of the frozen thing and eat it, it tastes just like the good old, unflavored, plain-milk ice cream of yore. YUM!!

If you apply it on cake (Vegan and homemade of course) and let it sit for a while, it makes a most fantastic pastry.

And if you get the bright idea of melting vegan chocolate chips and blending that with the whip topping, it tastes pretty much like vegan chocolate mousse (whose easy original recipe seems like a long drawn process now).

Apply this vegan chocolate mousse on vegan cake... you'll understand what Lara Fabian was talking about when she said "Heaven, I'm in Heaven" ta ta da.....

Note: All "non-dairy" whipped creams are not vegan. Check the video below to understand how to differentiate the vegan creams from the non-vegan ones.